William Hague reveals the Tories' five-point plan on foreign affairs

Top of the agenda for William Hague, who spoke in the last hour on security and international affairs, was Afghanistan. "Our forces won't be there forever", he said, and a Conservative government would work with Nato and President Obama for a new strategy. But the Shadow Foreign Secretary focused mainly on a new five-point plan on foreign affairs:

1. There will be a new national security council which will meet regularly and will integrate Britain's energy, defence, foreign and home needs. Brown tried this, but failed – with his version of the council meeting only three times in 21 months.

2. A new commitment to the transatlantic alliance – Iran was the issue here, and Hague recognised that the US will be key to implementing "serious and far-reaching sanctions" if the Iranian regime continues to lead a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Stopping that race, he said, is a "challenge which outweighs all others".

3. The establishment of special relationships with countries beyond the EU and North America. This idea has been neglected by Brown, he said. It was striking, too, that India was the first country he listed, with Pakistan and Latin America being mentioned before China or, needless to say, Russia.

4. The EU. After briefly talking about reform of the UN, Hague made it very clear that a Tory government would reject the "strategic shrinkage" of Britain's national power. But he also said that Britain can only exercise its influence through the EU. He balanced this idea with a dig at the EU presidency and said that "people should only be lead and governed with their consent".

5. International development. This point wasn't just about foreign aid, but about supporting the British Council, the BBC foreign language services, and promoting British values abroad. "A free, open, outward-looking society is best", he said, and Britain must lead by example.

Overall, Hague recognised that Britain's foreign influence is in steep decline. It's clear he wants to reverse this, and that the Tories will attempt to set out a definitive British foreign policy, working with the commonwealth as well as the EU. The Tories' emphasis, however, remains the economy, which the Shadow Foreign Secretary said was "closely linked" to Britain's influence on foreign affairs. A bit of an understatment, really, but George Osborne had Tuesday all to himself.